German novelist Bernhard Schlink, a former judge and professor of law, began his writing career in the 1980s with several professional manuals and a literate crime fiction series featuring a detective named Selb (German for "self"). He became a worldwide sensation with the international best seller The Reader in 1995. The Weekend, originally published in 2008, is his ninth work of fiction.

The Story: Jörg, a former member of the left-wing Baader-Meinhof Group, has just been released from prison after serving a 24-year sentence for murder. In celebration, his overprotective sister Christiane has arranged a weekend house party to reacquaint him with his old friends, who she hopes will guide his transition into a legitimate life. However, while Jörg's friends flirted with radical ideologies in college, they have since rejoined society--working, marrying, and raising families. Jörg, however, insulated from social pressures in prison, still remains faithful to his radical beliefs. As Christiane's guests reminisce and argue about the past, Jörg's soul hangs in the balance, hesitating between activism and assimilation.Pantheon. 224 pages. $24.95. ISBN: 9780307378156

Boston Globe4 of 5 Stars"In The Weekend, Bernhard Schlink has produced another terse and coolly voiced fictional examination of his country's modern history: as much biopsy as novel. ... What Schlink is mostly interested in, and what he does best here, is exploring his nation's character."Richard Eder

Seattle Times4 of 5 Stars"There's a fair bit of subtext that readers who aren't familiar with the concept of collective guilt will gloss over. But Schlink never sacrifices the plot for a morality lesson."Rob Merrill

New York Times3.5 of 5 Stars"How does the Germany of today deal with the burdens of its past? The range of responses is neatly represented by the varied guests, who search Jörg for signs of shameful remorse, romantic idealism or pathos."Patricia Cohen

Cleveland Plain Dealer3 of 5 Stars"Will Jorge repent the suffering he caused not only his victims but his own family? Should he? Questions rise, sink, and in the end are abandoned. The broody, disjointed voices mull about, rarely coalescing."Tricia Springstubb

Denver Post2 of 5 Stars"It feels as if [Schlink] has deceived himself into believing he can dissect the worst barbarism of the past century with a chisel instead of an open and wounded heart. His writing smacks of self-pity and reveals a man still averse to the grueling work of self-reflection."Elaine Margolin

San Francisco Chronicle2 of 5 Stars"The static plot of The Weekend does little to enliven [Schlink's] themes, which sprawl awkwardly in the corners of Christiane's crumbling mansion waiting for the characters to pick them up and hurl them at one another in the form of short essays spoken as dialogue. ... One gets the sense that this could have been an excellent book if only Schlink were not so intent on keeping his characters slouching irritably around a country estate, speechifying at one another."Yael Goldstein Love

NY Times Book Review1.5 of 5 Stars"What makes this a bad novel is that the characters are dead on the page. They are cutout types to whom the author has tacked arguments and opinions to keep the conversation going, but nothing more than that, despite the sexual couplings that go on when people run out of things to say."Ian Buruma

Critical Summary

Schlink's latest foray into fiction is far more concerned with ideas than with plot development and characterization. Some critics were able to overlook this unusual format--a continuous succession of conversations--in favor of his astute exploration of the character and collective struggle of a country still mired in the horrors of its past. Schlink skillfully mines the tension between the passionate idealism of youth and the nagging uncertainties of middle age in "a cross between The Big Chill and a talky, Jean-Luc Godard film" (Cleveland Plain Dealer). Conversely, critics seeking a more conventional novel rued the sluggish plot, lifeless characters, and unanswered questions. Readers willing to forego these traditional features will likely appreciate the moral complexities unearthed in The Weekend.

Also by the Author

The Reader (1997): In the late 1950s, a teenage boy's passionate affair with an older woman ends abruptly when she inexplicably disappears. Seven years later, the boy, now a young law student, chances on his former lover in court, where she is on trial for a terrible crime.